Srinagar, January 20 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Gilani, and other pro-freedom leaders and organizations have termed the charges leveled against Hurriyat leaders by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) as fake and false.

The APHC Chairman said that fake allegations and accusations spreading over 13,000 pages and lengthy list of 300 witnesses was a ploy to target the resistance leaders and activists to malign them and link them with subversive activities and prolong their unlawful detention. “The incarcerated leaders have nothing to do with funding case and therefore we demand their unconditional release. There is no constitutional and moral justification to arrest these people and detain them in Tihar Jail,” he added.

Syed Ali Gilani said the NIA has no role in the disputed territory as Jammu and Kashmir is not a part of India. “The crackdown against resistance leadership and filing of fake chargesheet has been made at the behest of local stooges. It is a propaganda blitzkrieg to defame the Kashmir movement and resistance leadership. New Delhi is coercing Hurriyat leadership and enforcing dialogue through the barrel of gun. It is a well thought-out ploy to hoodwink the international community. We are facing appalling situation for the past 70 years. They (rulers) are living in an illusion that they will make us surrender,” he said.

The APHC Chairman while referring to a recent statement of Indian army chief said, “We have witnessed massacres in Sopore, Gaw Kadal, Handwara, Bijbehara, Zakura and we are committed to pursue freedom movement till it reaches its logical end. A hype of so-called terror is being created to justify the use of state power.”

Merajuddin Soleh, and Jammu and Kashmir National Front in their statements rejected the NIA chargesheet against several Kashmiris including Hurriyat leaders. They said India wants to break the will of resistance leaders by resorting to character assassination campaign but would never succeed in its nefarious designs.

They also paid glowing tributes to Gaw Kadal martyrs on the eve of their martyrdom anniversary. More than 50 innocent people were killed in Gaw Kadal area of Srinagar on January 21 in 1990 when Indian forces had resorted to indiscriminate firing on peaceful demonstrators who were protesting against the molestation of several women by troops, the previous night.